Step Off the Edge
by sesquipedality
Summary: She was a student, not a soldier, and she made a student's mistake- and then made up for it. Marietta Edgecombe under Fudge, Scrimgeour, Thickness, and Shacklebolt- now with complimentary Dean Thomas, free of charge! .


_I don't own _Harry Potter_. If I did, Harry would act a lot less smug about what Hermione did to Marietta._

* * *

The thing is, Marietta has no particular reason to love Dumbledore. _He's crafty and powerful and he got your father killed!_ her mother and grandmother have said all her life. She has no penchant towards secret societies either, what with her father's participation in Dumbledore's Order being the cause of his death-- two weeks after her parents married and two months before Marietta was born.

If Sylvia Jones had been a pureblood her parents would have gotten Paul Edgecombe to propose as soon as she developed morning sickness, or her mother would have had the apothecary supply her with contraceptive potion rather than leaving her to rely on the unreliable charm, or she would have realized just how much stigma remained in the wizarding world against unwed mothers. As it was, Sylvia's father was a plumber and her mum kept house for him. Her less than powerful charm's work got her pregnant, and until she saw the disapproving looks directed at her swelling belly she'd assumed wizarding attitudes towards pre-marital sex had kept pace with those in the muggle world.

If Sylvia had been a pureblood Helen Edgecombe, Paul's dragon-lady of a mother, would have reminded him of his duty before the jeers directed at them as they walked down Diagon Alley prompted him to get down on one knee. As it was Mrs. Edgecombe didn't even come to the hasty wedding. It wasn't until Paul died in battle against the Death Eaters that Sylvia met her mother-in-law.

And there she was, eighteen years old and seven months pregnant, without the magical skill to replace the house-wards that had fallen with her husband. Paul might have been a war hero but as his widow Sylvia was a target, and the fact that she was a muggleborn who'd corrupted a proper pureblood and was carrying his halfblood child only made it worse. In a better organized Order her husband's brave chums would have offered to provide the proper protections. Instead, they sent a wreath to the funeral and went on with their war.

So no, Marietta has no reason to love Dumbledore or secret societies at all.

***

Directionless and scared, Sylvia had accepted Mrs. Edgecombe's offer to move into the ancestral house. They hadn't moved out until Marietta was five, and she had vivid memories of the icy disdain her grandmother had treated her mother with, and the frightened deference with which her mother had responded.

It'd taken them so long to find a house of their own because Sylvia hadn't exactly advanced quickly in her job at the Floo Network Authority. The way Marietta's mother told it she had to work eight times as hard as anyone else: twice as hard for being a woman, twice again to make up for her muggle birth, and twice more because two weeks of marriage had done almost nothing to reduce the stain of Marietta's conception. Sylvia's daughter grew up feeling guilty about how hard she'd made her mother's life, and when Umbridge offers her a chance to reverse the trend-- to make things easier on Sylvia rather than harder-- it's very seductive.

In the end, it's lots of factors that lead Marietta into betraying the D.A.: her lack of loyalty to Dumbldore, her extreme loyalty to her mother, a vague thread of dislike towards three pompous Gryffindor fifth years who think they know more than everyone else, fear of the implications of the Dark Lord's return, and, at the root of the decision, the only reason she considers finking in the first place, a deep down conviction that respect for the established order is the basis of a civil society.

She gets the last bit from her Uncle Jake, who is more philosophical then one might expect from a muggle policeman. He spent most of their time together over winter break impressing upon his niece the idea that people shouldn't flout authority, even when they disagree with it, or else society would cease to function. "Who are you to decide that a law doesn't matter?" he'd asked her over and over again, as she struggled to justify the vague references to rebellion she'd bragged about in her letters to him. "If you can decide it's okay to disregard the rules then so can anyone else, and what's the point of having them in the first place-- or in trying to get an unjust law changed, since no one will be obliged to obey the new version?"

Explaining herself, she'd told him much more about the D.A. then she'd meant to (curiously, the jinx didn't go off then-- because Jake was a muggle or because it wasn't meant to be a betrayal? Marietta wonders later) and her Uncle --who knew little about wizarding politics and thought it sounded more like a group of disgruntled kids getting revenge on a bad teacher-- responsibly informed her mum. Sylvia, always looking to get ahead at the ministry, told Umbridge, who dragged Marietta into her office and got it out of the poor girl.

***

Marietta hates the giant SNEAK emblazoned across her face but she also thinks it's stupid. If Marietta were Granger, she would have charmed the parchment to stop anyone from telling, or if she couldn't manage that, to let her know that they had. The jinx Granger used doesn't have any purpose: it's just vengeful and petty.

Marietta tells herself that over and over again in the lonely, humiliating, miserable year and a half that follows. She gets very good at makeup charms but Granger's a powerful witch and the pustules pop through frequently. During the winter of her seventh year she goes so far as to take advantage of Slughorn's less than vigilant eye on the potions cupboard, brewing up a fatal potion and even mentally composing a suicide note, but in the end she can't make herself do it.

Her mum gets her a starting position in the Floo Network Authority after she graduates. Dumbledore's death has everyone running scared, and Marietta keeps her head down (and her desk lamp dim) and concentrates on work. Umbridge'd lost most of her power after Scrimgeour took office, so Marietta's SNEAKing activities didn't actually do much to improve her mother's position at all. Before Marietta's been with the ministry for three months, however, the soft spot the Chair of the Muggle-Born Registration Commission has for her has saved Sylvia's life.

***

By the end of August Marietta's gone from the lowest paper pusher in the FNA to Chief of Floo Connections, answering only to the Authority's Director. She'd be her mum's boss, if her mother still had a job, but Sylvia was fired on the same day as Marietta's second promotion.

Bewildered by the sudden changes of the Thickness administration, and naturally a law abiding person, Sylvia actually shows up for her summons to the M-BRC hearing. Edgecombe is early in the alphabet, and while there's all sorts of rumors, no one's clear what the Commission is doing to those unfortunates that Umbridge condemns. Marietta's on her way to the tearoom when she overhears the aurors ahead of her gossiping about the sorry lot they just escorted off to Azkaban.

She doesn't really start thinking again until she's gotten her mother stashed in a broom cupboard and is struggling to keep calm as two Aurors loom over her desk. She's sure everything's over when she's brought before Umbridge for questioning about her mother's disappearance, but the fat toad assures everyone that Miss Edgecombe is a smart girl who knows what's what, a loyal member of the new administration. Umbridge didn't say that Marietta was hardworking, but she should have-- that night Marietta stays late, telling the unlucky underling who got night duty to catch up on old paperwork, and sends a memo flying off to her mother: when the coast is clear, Sylvia should find a fireplace and floo out of the ministry.

A week later, Umbridge, who has apparently decided that smart, loyal Marietta makes a nice confidant, mentions that she's going to break out of alphabetical order for the sake of that dreadful Thomas boy. Marietta doesn't linger at her desk that night, instead spending twenty minute's on Dean's front stoop in the deepening twilight convincing him to let her into his house. It takes another hour of talk before he agrees to go into hiding, and she impulsively sacrifices her social life for the foreseeable future, pledging to spend her evenings in the office in case Dean ever needs to use a floo.

***

Most muggleborns still free go on the run soon after that, but Marietta works to rescue the ones who can't. At the end of April the (new) Order of the Phoenix contacts her on the basis of Dean's recommendation (somewhere, a soft spot she didn't know she had swells with joy to hear that he's safe).

The Weasley twins are very rude to her, sneering at the SNEAK emblazoned across her face (she doesn't even bother trying to cover it up any more) and implying she's not to be trusted, until they walk into her Grandmother's house and see the cots crowding the hallway. Edgecombe Place is a large building, but even with magic it's hard to accommodate twenty-three extra people, all but Sylvia under the age of seventeen.

With the Order's contacts and Marietta's position, nineteen of the unexpected house guests are soon smuggled off to France. Marietta's mother remains in England, as do the Teasdale siblings: Alice, twelve, Lucy, seven, and Jordan, age four. In most families Lucy and Jordan would have been safe, but Alice had unwisely spent her first year at Hogwart's bragging about her younger sister and brother's clear magical talent. Someone had remembered the gossip and reported it to the ministry, and Lucy and Jordan were listed next to Alice on the M-BRC forms.

Marietta knows that her grandmother is a pureblood of the old type, that if she herself weren't all that the woman had left of her only son she'd probably never have been acknowledged, that Helen Edgecombe didn't just disapprove of Paul joining the Order of the Phoenix because of the danger. None the less, Mrs. Edgecombe took to the Teasdales, even as she treated the rest of her boarders with frigid condescension bordering on disdain. Privately, Marietta thinks it has something to do with Jordan's tendency to levitate his (muggle) toys: as a pureblood witch, Helen was raised to be on the lookout for magical talent in her offspring, and all three Teasdales are very powerful. Whatever the reason, when offered the opportunity to go to France Alice, speaking for herself and her siblings, declines, and Mrs. Edgecombe backs up their decision.

***

Four days after the last young muggleborn bravely stepped into the international fireplace, Marietta (spending the night at the office as she has for the last ten months, although it feels less pointless now that the Order of the Phoenix is counting on her to be there) recieves news of the battle shaping up at Hogwarts.

She doesn't leave her desk. However poetic it would be for her to die fighting Death Eaters (and Hermione Granger would find her mangled body, and at last regret the dreadful word still emblazoned across her face, Marietta thinks meanly) she can do more good staying where she is and, so to speak, keeping the home-fires burning. That night and the next day she carefully conceals the connections that let fighters into Hogwarts and students out of it. As the battles rage she makes sure the few medical evacuees reach St. Mungo's without interruption, and after Harry defeats Volemort she diverts three fleeing Death Eaters into containment cells.

***

In the days following the Battle of Hogwarts Marietta occasionally entertains daydreams of Hermione Granger hearing of her contributions to the war effort and coming to beg her forgiveness and remove the jinx that still pulses across her cheeks. It's an idle wish, really, because with so many heroes none but the most important (Potter, Granger, Neville Longbottom, the entire Weasley family and, of course, the many, many dead) are recieving any attention.

Honestly, even if Hermione Granger wanted to see her, Marietta wouldn't have the time. Minister of Magic Kingsley Shacklebolt promotes her to head of the FNA on his first day officially in office. She's quick with details, good at managing people, and not loyal to Voldemort, Shacklebolt says, when Marietta asks him why, and she nods and goes back to the office, sitting down in front of the larger desk and much larger stacks of paperwork.

***

That fall, the Teasdale's have the Edgecombe's over for dinner, so that Alice (Hogwarts is still closed for repairs; the oldest Teasdale is trying to catch up on her second year and keep up with her third from home), Lucy, and Jordan can see their "Granny Helen," and Mr. and Mrs. Teasdale can formally thank their children's rescuers. Over the course of the meal it comes out that Mrs. Teasdale is actually Dr. Teasdale, and a very well regarded dermatologist (a muggle healer who specializes in skin problems, Sylvia explains to her confused mother-in-law). She thinks there might be something that can treat Marietta's curse.

Doubtful, Marietta accepts the first bottle of pills a week later, along with a second prescription to prevent pregnancy-- she doesn't know which is more laughable, the idea that anyone would want to sleep with her or that she'd have the time to do so if they did-- and she dutifully adds them to her hurried morning routine. She refuses to have a mirror at home or in her office, and it's not until several months later when, unwrapping her scarf against the warming weather, she catches a glimpse of her face in a shop window. Transfixed, she runs her fingers across her cheeks. There's scarring, of course, but it seems the Accutane has done more then give her nosebleeds: for the first time in three years, she's free of the ugly pimples.

***

_Twelve years later_

The faint scarring that remains after various treatments is easily covered by a light coat of makeup as Marietta follows her best friend down the aisle. It's a muggle ceremony, in deference to Cho's husband-to-be, so the maid of honor holds the end of the veil aloft rather than a floatation charm.

Many hours later, Marietta pauses from dancing for a drink at the bar. There's not many people she recognizes at the reception; few wizards could spend this long around muggles without accidentally breaking the Statute of Secrecy. She tries her best to honor her mother's heritage and keep tabs on developments in the muggle world, but she hopes the handsome black man smiling at her from a few seats down won't try to engage her in conversation.

_Bloody hell!_ He's moving towards her.

"Hello, Marietta" Dean Thomas says.

***

Three weeks later Ms. Edgecombe, youngest ever Head of the Department of Magical Transportation, can feel the Director of her Floo Network Authority smirking at the end of the table. She's sure Dawson's underlings have brought the frequent firecalls between D. Thomas and M. Edgecombe to his amused attention. Marietta blushes, glares at the man, and brings her roll of parchment down _whack!_ on the table, calling the meeting to order.

* * *

_Please, please, please review. Is Marietta believable? Are there any details that directly violate cannon? Did I (god forbid) not catch a typo? And, most importantly... did you like it?_


End file.
